Friendly Skies Read online

  FRIENDLY SKIES

  Kit Stephens

  Copyright © Kit Stephens 2017

  All rights reserved. The right of Kit Stephens to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

  No part of this publication may be altered, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including, but not limited to, scanning, duplicating, uploading, hosting, distributing, or reselling, without the express prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of reasonable quotations in features such as reviews, interviews, and certain other non-commercial uses currently permitted by copyright law.

  Disclaimer:

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, locations, and businesses are purely products of the author’s imagination and are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, places, or events is completely coincidental.

  Friendly Skies by Kit Stephens

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Acknowledgements

  To Grandma Gladys, for encouraging me to write down the stories I made up for my Barbies.

  Chapter One

  “HAND ME THE BARF bag,” Judy mumbled to her husband while doubled over and reaching out to him. The plane lurched for the 20th time as it hit a gust of wind. “Greg, please -” she moaned with more urgency as the tell-tale blackness closed in on her field of vision.

  “Okay, okay, just hang on a sec!” Greg obviously didn’t grasp the urgency of the situation. At this very moment, he was looking out the Cessna’s window framing a photo with his phone camera. Of course. It made perfect sense that as the tiny plane is about to get thrown into the Pacific Ocean, and while his wife was about to leave her breakfast all over the cockpit, Greg would want to capture the moment.

  “I can’t wait!” she yelled and then just like that, it was too late. “Never mind,” she mumbled with her head in her lap, almost as much to herself as to Greg. Well, at least she didn’t get sick on herself, just all over the way-too-small airplane.

  So much for a romantic getaway. Judy had been so excited when she booked their trip to Catalina Island off the coast of southern California. It sounded like the perfect place for them to rekindle their romance and give their marriage a boost. But now, well, there was nothing romantic about throwing up.

  She blamed the pilot. It should have been wildly romantic to take a private plane to some island in the middle of the ocean! She’d had been so impressed that Greg had suggested it, thinking he was finally getting into the spirit of their vacation. He’d told her that seeing the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island from the air would be breathtaking, and the perfect lead-in to a week of sun, sand and love. But instead they were trapped in a tiny plane that was being batted around by winds it couldn’t handle, with a growing stench of vomit settling over them. She’d been worried that Greg wasn’t committed to making their marriage work. She was so pleased (and relieved) that he was contributing to the vacation that she hadn’t even considered the possibility of a turbulent flight, or that she might get airsick.

  She moaned again and held her head. Why was this flight taking so long? She prayed she wouldn’t throw up again. The only thing worse than throwing up once was throwing up twice.

  And what was with the pilot? Wasn’t he supposed to know about stuff like this before he took off? It figured, the perfect romantic vacation started out in a worst-case scenario with the World’s Worst Pilot. Judy fought another urge to heave.

  “Jesus Christ, Judy. Really?” Greg directed at her, considerate as ever. He couldn't get her the airsick bag in time because he had been too busy framing the perfect shot for his blog. Now he was yelling at her for throwing up on the floor of the plane. Nice.

  About a week before their vacation, he’d announced that he was going to do a blog about Catalina Island, including the plane ride over from LA. Part of his job was blogging about all things West Coast, including travel opportunities. This trip was not only for the two of them to reconnect, but also an opportunity for Greg to blog. As he liked to remind her, he had to take the opportunities as they arose because each one was a potential income source. Yep, they were one wildly romantic couple.

  She tried not to think about whether he had wanted to take the airplane ride to Catalina for the blogging opportunity all along. That maybe he agreed to the trip in the first place and sold her on the idea of the plane ride, only for the blog, and not for the romantic aspect of it. She was doing her best to banish the negative thoughts. She wanted to make sure they gave their marriage the effort that it deserved.

  Greg was a writer, and his way of life was a lot scrappier than hers. Judy preferred a little more financial stability and regularity to her money, but Greg was a creative soul. He was more comfortable going where the wind blew him than she was. He had once described her as orderly. Orderly. She wondered if he told his friends when they would ask, “Hey, what’s your wife like?” he said, “Oh, she’s orderly. Isn’t that hot?” Until recently, Judy thought their differences made them compatible in that “opposites-attract” way. But lately, not so much.

  Whatever. The disorderly wind was taking its toll on her. So yeah, maybe she liked a little order now and then.

  Noticing the deluge of vomit in the plane and the disgusting aroma (sausage gravy and biscuits at SeaTac had been a terrible idea), the genius pilot handed Greg a box filled with oversized tissues, which Greg then handed to Judy without even a glace to see if she was all right.

  Wow. No words of comfort or help. Looked like she was cleaning up the vomit herself.

  As she bent over to clean up the mess, her stomach continued to roil with every gust, no matter how slight, even though the storm was now behind them. It was possible she might clean up the vomit only to replace it with more. She would kiss the ground when this plane landed and stick to boats from here on out. No more planes. Ever.

  Greg did his level best to ignore the situation. He was a good man for the most part, but not great with vomit or any truly messy situation. As she did her best to clean up while still strapped in, he casually scrolled through the photos he captured on his phone. He looked pleased. Perhaps that income source would come through after all.

  An eternity later, she noticed Catalina Island and the ground coming closer as the plane started to descend and a palpable sense of relief filled the cockpit.
Thank you, Jesus. No thanks at all to the two men in the plane. Well, maybe thanks to the pilot for finally bringing this special hell to an end.

  As the plane prepared to land the reality of the situation started to set in. She was beyond humiliated and Greg hadn’t spoken to her at all. He had hardly looked in her direction since she got sick, a clear sign that he was annoyed with her. She sighed to herself and closed her eyes. What was that saying about hell and good intentions?

  Remarkably, when they landed on Catalina Island, the skies were clear blue and it was a beautiful day with no sign of the insanity that they all just experienced in the sky. Judy watched the island pass by out her window as the plane taxied to the tiny terminal. The landscape was gorgeous. The palm trees swayed in the wind and the rich, tropical flora dotted backdrop of grass and sand with vibrant colors. “Oh wow, look how beautiful it is!” she exclaimed as she reached his arm. He ignored her, apparently still fuming over her embarrassing display in the plane. Yikes. An errant thought tickled that back of her brain, the thought that Greg was the one who should be embarrassed for treating her so poorly. She promptly pushed that thought away, though. No good could come from that line of thinking, right?

  Once the plane came to a stop and the pilot shut down the controls, he climbed out of his seat and out of the plane. As she unbuckled her seat belt, the pilot opened Judy’s door, giving her a hand to help her out of the plane.

  “I'm so sorry,” she began as she took his hand and gingerly made her way out of the plane. “I had no idea I was going to be sick,” she started to explain, trying madly to make up for the scene she had just caused.

  The pilot put up a hand to stop her explanation. “No, please, it's really okay. It happens. It was a bumpy ride and sooner or later it happens to everyone,” he said mildly. “I will have her fixed up in no time,” nodding to the plane.

  Judy looked up and met the pilot’s eyes. He looked at her, not with the disdain she had expected (she barfed up breakfast all over his plane, after all), but instead with kindness. She nearly started crying with sheer relief. And then she noticed how blue those eyes were. Very blue. Paul Newman blue. Funny she hadn’t noticed that before. With his blond hair shining in the California sun, the pilot was pretty hot.

  Wait, why had she noticed that? She was supposed to be on a second honeymoon! She must be coming down with something. Besides, the pilot was probably more Dani’s type than hers. Now that was a good idea—figure out how to set up Dani and the pilot.

  “Best thing you can do now is take it easy. Maybe some ginger ale and a light meal once you feel up to it.” The pilot spoke to her, but he glanced at Greg as well.

  And then it happened. Judy could no longer keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Just when she thought she could not be more embarrassed. But then, she had always been a crier when it came to getting sick.

  “Oh no, look, it's going to be okay, really,” Jason said as he put an arm around her and looked at Greg for assistance.

  She leaned into the side hug a little without thinking about it. It felt nice, and it was a tender move that she apparently needed. God knew her husband was no help. Plus, a side hug from a sexy pilot? Why not?

  Sexy pilot? Dammit, what was wrong with her?

  “She's fine, she cries when she throws up,” deadpanned Greg as he surfaced with their bags and snapped Judy back to reality. “What do we have to do to get a taxi around here?”

  She pulled away from Jason and went to help Greg with the bags, feeling like something just happened but she wasn’t sure what, exactly.

  Let the romance begin!

  Chapter Two

  I’M SUCH A DICK, Jason thought to himself as he watched Judy and Greg walk across the tarmac toward the hangar office. He should have checked the weather one last time before leaving LAX. He’d been flying for 18 of his 36 years. He knew better.

  He’d pay the price for his oversight - he would be spending the afternoon cleaning vomit out of his plane instead of drinking margaritas on the beach as he’d planned. Not to mention Tommy was going to kill him for this.

  But when he looked at this woman, what’s her name? Judy? He’d realized how upset she was and he instantly softened toward her. After all, these people had paid for this service and were obviously trying to take a nice—maybe even romantic—vacation. His mistake meant it had been off to an unpleasant start.

  As he helped her out of the plane he noticed that she was pretty, even though she’d just been violently airsick. Not too many people can pull off ‘pretty’ after motion sickness. He found himself admiring how her long brown curls escaped from her ponytail, and curled around her face. What drew him even more were her gorgeous brown eyes that made her look innocent and vulnerable, especially when they had tears in them. She was curvy in all the right places, too. Her husband was a lucky guy.

  Unfortunately, she had also been on the verge of a meltdown. When she started to cry, Jason put his arm around her without even thinking about it. He had to force himself not to think about how nice it felt to be close to her. Clearly, it had been too long since he’d enjoyed the company of a woman.

  He surveyed the plane, looking in at the job ahead of him.

  “Looks like you had a live one, there,” one of the grounds crewmen mentioned as he walked up.

  “Yeah, we hit the edge of that squall and one of my passengers took offense,” Jason replied.

  “I’ll go get the supplies,” the crewman said nonchalantly as he walked away. “I can help, we’ll have her taken care of in no time.”

  The feel of Judy’s body pressed against his flashed through Jason’s mind. For a second he thought the crewman had been referring to his female passenger. What the hell. This was not the way to start what could be a new job. On top of everything else, he almost made a pass at said passenger, in front of her husband. Jesus, he needed professional help. Even Tommy, with his surfer attitude, would agree.

  Tommy had graciously extended Jason a job offer, and this trip was a test drive. They’d known each other for years, having gone through flight school together. Afterwards, Jason went to work at his dad’s charter business in Spokane, handling tourist and corporate flights throughout the Pacific Northwest. Tommy, needing to feel the sand between his toes and the salt water on his skin when he wasn’t trying to touch the sun, headed for Southern California to make his fortune. He’d done well, too. After years of just getting by, his charter business was swiftly growing into more than he could handle. The two part-time pilots he employed were not interested in full-time work, so he had decided to give Jason a call.

  The timing was perfect. Jason was getting ready to make the deal of a lifetime with his dad’s business, and he was trying to figure out his next move. This trip was about seeing if Tommy’s business was the right fit. Hopefully he hadn’t screwed it up with the turbulence and then trying to handle Judy’s meltdown. It would serve him right if her husband complained about Jason and the flight, but he had a feeling Greg wouldn’t complain. Judy’s discomfort didn’t seem to be that high on his list of stuff he wanted to deal with.

  What a douche, Jason thought.

  Chapter Three

  AFTER JUDY AND GREG left the madness of the airplane ride behind them, her stomach settled and her mood improved. Standing outside of the small airport waiting for their taxi, she soaked in the fact that they were finally here. The sun was shining and the sky was brilliant. Her skin warmed under the sun’s heat, and then cooled in the gentle breeze making the palm trees sway lazily. She heard the waves of the mighty Pacific in the background as she watched the seagulls dip and soar looking for food. This was paradise.

  The taxi pulled up and the driver loaded their luggage into the trunk. “So, is this your first time on Catalina Island?”

  “Yes,” she answered, noticing that Greg seemed invested in giving everyone the silent treatment.

  “What do you think so far?” the driver asked.

  “It’s stunning,” she answere
d. “We’re from Seattle, where it’s been raining for the last five months. The sun alone is magnificent, but the ocean and the palm trees, the flowers….” She trailed off, delighted in her surroundings.

  “Well, you should be as impressed with your hotel. It’s the nicest place on Catalina Island, and you’ll be well-taken care of,” the driver opined.

  They drive to the hotel only lasted about 10 minutes, and that was mostly because they had to wait while a herd of buffalo crossed the road. Buffalo! The driver explained that the bison are not native to Catalina, but were brought out for the filming of a western in the early 1920s. The herd remained, has grown, and now was looked after by conservancy groups.

  Judy gaped at the hotel when they pulled in. The driver was right; it was amazing. The main building was resplendent. Judy loved the white with red trim, plantation-style building, with balconies off every room. It looked like the perfect setting to relax and take in island life. Even though she couldn’t see the ocean, she could hear it, and she knew right behind she’d find that fabulous beach. She’d booked a room that looked out to the Pacific, wanting to be as close as she could and fall asleep at night to the sound of the waves. What could be more romantic?

  Her whole body relaxed as they walked into the hotel. Something about the salty sea fragrance and the ocean breeze created an overall sense of well-being.

  “Here are your room keys and a map of the grounds,” the front desk attendant smiled. “You probably noticed the lot full of golf carts out front; that is the primary mode of transportation on the island. You can check them out at the valet desk when you want to get around. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance. Do you have any questions?”

  The clerk was exceedingly friendly and gave the impression she loved her job. Of course. What’s not to love living on an island in the Pacific?

  “I thought I read there were yoga classes in the fitness center? Where is that?” Judy asked.